Multi-omics analysis of the host immune response to malaria infection

Abstract

The disease burden of malaria remains a significant global public health challenge with >600,000 deaths in 2020. Interindividual and inter-ethnic differences in susceptibility to malaria is multifactorial and has a significant heritable component but our understanding of host-parasite interactions in modulating host and parasite processes and the course of infection remains limited. We combine the power of longitudinal sampling of malarial children from two distinct ethnic groups in West Africa and demonstrate the power of host-parasite multi-omics profiling and integrative genomic data analysis to identify the molecular perturbations taking place in vivo in response infection. Examples of multi-omics approaches integrating genetic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data and the associated computational challenges will be presented.